1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to signal processing, and, more specifically, to circuits configured to perform peak power detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
A receiver chain typically performs a variety of operations to process a received signal. Such operations may include filtering the signal, demodulating it, sampling it, etc. In order to perform some of these operations, various circuits in the receiver chain may require that the signal have a signal strength within a particular range. Often, however, this signal is too weak by the time it arrives at the receiver. To account for this, the receiver chain may attempt to amplify the signal before processing it further.
In many instances, receiver chains employ a feedback loop in which an incoming signal passes through an amplifier and then a peak detector to measure the peak power of the signal. If the signal strength is too high or too low, the circuit adjusts the gain of the amplifier accordingly. This form of feedback loop is commonly referred to as an automatic gain control (AGC) system.